Rescue type vehicles such as fire trucks often carry a supply of compressed air which is contained in a bank of pressurized vessels or cylinders. The compressed air cylinders are housed on the vehicle in a remote storage compartment. Pressurized lines run from each cylinder to a panel of pressure gauges and controls usually located on the side of the truck. The cylinders are plumbed in parallel and have feed lines which run to a compressed air station on the truck adjacent the control panel. Rescue personnel carry backpack mounted air bottles which supply their individual personal breathing apparatus. As these air bottles become depleted, they are refilled at the truck compressed air station. The compressed air is also used to power hand tools and for other purposes.
Pressure of the supply cylinders on the fire truck is monitored by the gauges on the control panel. As the compressed air is used, the cylinders are switched from one to another in a cascade fashion as the pressure in each cylinder drops below a given point to ensure that the fill station is at all times provided with air of sufficient quantity and pressure. Manual valves on the control panel are turned to release air from each cylinder as needed. The problem with this arrangement is that each supply cylinder has a separate live air hose running to a gauge on the control panel and then lines to the air station. This system uses a great deal of air hose plumbing which takes up space, adds weight, and requires constant maintenance since leaks may develop in the myriad of air lines which travel to and from the supply cylinders to the control panel and then from the control panel to the fill station. This is detrimental to the fire truck in which space and weight are at a premium. Reliability is also of paramount importance for rescue vehicles. There is therefore a need in the art of rescue vehicles for a more efficient, compact, lighter weight, and more reliable system for monitoring, regulating, and delivering air from the reservoir tanks to the compressed air access station.